Now that the election is over, it’s time for the results to really sink in.

It was the last Rosemead City Council meeting for John Nunez and John Tran last night. Newcomers Steven Ly and Sandra Armenta will be taking over for them, alongside Margaret Clark — who was re-elected — and the rest of the council.

I just sifted through the beginning, end and public communications portions of the meeting, but it didn’t sound like Nunez or Tran commented about their departures.

In fact, it was the residents who spoke out — mostly saying that they were happy with the work the two did, and sad to see them go.

Even kids who helped out in the Johns’ campaign came out in support of the outgoing councilmen:

Here’s some general quotes:

“Mayor Tran, I have seen you conduct the City Council meetings with order. You are well-mannered, polite man and respectful of others … Be careful not to give place to the deceit and viciousness allowed to be spit out by a very few of your supporters. For without it, you may have won this election.”

“I’ve never spoken at a council meeting until tonight. John and John, I’m proud of your accomplishments over the last four years. You did a great job of bringing Rosemead into the 21st century.”

“I hate to think it’s going to go back to the way it was (tight wallet). “I hope things that were established will stay in place.”

We’re just a couple of weeks away from the March elections. Here is the latest out of Rosemead. Six are vying for three seats.

The candidates are incumbents Margaret Clark, John Nunez and John Tran, and challengers Sandra Armenta, Henry Lo and Steven Ly. Among the top issues are amending the recently-approved General Plan, reducing crime and graffiti, and spending city reserves to improve services.

Foul odors, traffic, noise, pollution and declining property values are among a handful of concerns Baldwin Park residents have about a proposed trash-sorting facility bordering Irwindale at Live Oak and Arrow Highway.

More than 200 residents crammed into Irwindale Council Chambers last week to hear Athens Services’ proposal for the 17-acre site. The materials recycling facility would receive a maximum of 6,000 tons of trash a day.

It’s not a trash dump. If approved, it would serve as a location to sort trash from recyclables. It also would bring in an estimated $2 million to $4 million annually to Irwindale’s coffers.

But Baldwin Park residents aren’t having it. They seemed especially irritated it wasn’t Irwindale that notified them about the meeting; it was Baldwin Park City Hall.

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The Independent Cities Association, which is an organization of 52 Los Angeles County cities, unanimously has approved a resolution supporting the proposed NFL stadium in Industry.

Not a member of the ICA is the Walnut, which so far has been the lone municipality against the project. Walnut is a member of the Contract Cities Association, which is expected to decide its stance on the project next month.

Monterey Park Mayor Frank Venti, who is a member of the ICA, said he is “incensed” with Walnut Mayor Joaquin Lim’s continued disapproval of the NFL stadium.Lim said he has a lot of concerns about the project, including traffic and “the noise factor that could disturb the peace and quiet of Walnut.”

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It seems taggers have taken over the former site of Altmans Winnebago Inc. in Baldwin Park. The Caltrans-owned property that fronts the 10 Freeway has become an eyesore, according to city officials. Walls are tagged from the ground to the roofline.

City officials are in contact with Caltrans to clean up the site. Caltrans spokeswoman Judy Gish said they planned on meeting with contractors last week for graffiti removal.

But she also warned, “Within a very short time of the clean-up, the graffiti will be back.”It seems graffiti removal is costly and timely, and Caltrans doesn’t have the resources to continuously clean up the site every time a tagger gets his spray paint can on it.“It is a priority (for us),” Mayor Manuel Lozano said.

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The Rosemead City Council chickened out on plans last week to allow a popular poultry slaughterhouse to stay in the city.

Cal-Poultry will have to shut its doors following the unanimous vote against allowing a municipal code change that would have allowed the business to expand.

The most interesting point: only a month before, three of the council members actually supported Cal-Poultry’s efforts to stay in the city.

Apparently, “passionate pleas” from residents — who reminded council members of the upcoming March election — swayed their final decision.

Cal-Poultry, a popular poultry slaughterhouse among the Asian community, will have to shut its doors. Interesting how three council members flipped their December vote from yes, keep the slaughterhouse open, to no, shut it down. Reporter Rebecca Kimitch said that a number of residents spoke at the meeting on Tuesday complaining about the slaughterhouse.

A number of residents also reminded the council members of the March election. Here’s Rebecca Kimitch’s story:

ROSEMEAD – Passionate pleas from residents Tuesday night convinced three council members to reverse their earlier support for the expansion of a well-known poultry slaughterhouse.

Instead of allowing Chinese American Live Poultry, 8932 Garvey Ave., to expand, the city will take steps to close the business down, even if it involves court action, Mayor John Tran said.

“The will of the people is saying we don’t want (the slaughterhouse), so we will challenge it. We will take it to court,” Tran said. “This is a risk, it’s a liability, but if that is a liability we want to bear, that is what we want to do.”

The city council had last month approved, by a vote of 3-2, a change to the municipal code that would have allowed CAL Poultry to expand, and allowed more slaughterhouses in the city.

A second reading and approval of the change were necessary to make it official. Such second readings are often considered formalities, however on Tuesday, three council members did 180-degree turns of their support.

Resident after resident told the council how they have been bothered and disgusted by smells emanating from the slaughterhouse. And they cited the business’ long history of violating health and zoning codes.

CAL Poultry has been selling freshly slaughtered chickens and duck since 1991. A decade after it opened, animal slaughtering and storage was banned in the area. However, CAL Poultry was allowed to stay under the condition that it not expand.

Two years ago, complaints from neighbors began to pour in to the city about odors and chickens running loose in the street. The city tried to get the place to move, but ran into legal challenges since it is legally allowed to be there. Though city and county officials have periodically found the business to be in violation of laws, every time the owners have fixed the violation, city staff said.

The business’ owners said they could fix the odors by being allowed to add a filtration system to the roof, and asked for the municipal code change to allow that expansion.

Until Tuesday, Tran and council members Peggy Low and John Nunez thought the change was the best way to deal with the odors, over the objections of council members Margaret Clark and Gary Taylor.

A Norwalk employee filed a lawsuit against Mayor Mike Mendez, who previously worked for the city for nearly 30 years in the parks and recreation department. He’s got a gym named after him at Sante Fe High.

In the 22 page suit, employee Toni Tucker claims Mendez commented about the size of her breasts, hugged and kissed her on the lips, and that he made hand gestures to demonstrate how her breasts had grown, according to the story:

She also said Mendez repeatedly asked if he could visit her at home. At a Dodger Day event in June 2007, Tucker said in her suit that Mendez insisted on sitting next to her, then put an arm around her and put a hand on her knee. He also held her hand while they were in a car, and tried to persuade her to go with him to a conference in Santa Barbara.

Tucker alleges Mendez asked inappropriate questions about her dating life and sexual orientation.

Mendez also allegedly told Tucker that although he was a nice person, he could “become very mean,” and told her that her “job was secure as long as I’m in office.”

The allegations sound similar to those made by former finance employee Valerie Mazone employee in the city of Rosemead when she claimed Councilman John Nunez harassed her over a period of several years. The city settled nearly a year ago with Mazone for $330,000.

ROSEMEAD – The city council voted last night to allow poultry slaughterhouses in Rosemead, despite accusations of corruption and fears of avian flu from residents.

The 3-2 decision was made in order to allow one already existing slaughterhouse to expand, but it would also allow new slaughterhouses to open in various areas of the city.

“People don’t know that this is happening all over… this ordinance tonight is effecting every manufacturing zone in the city,” said councilwoman Margaret Clark, who, along with Councilman Gary Taylor, voted against the municipal code change to allow slaughterhouses.

Chinese American Live Poultry, which freshly kills chickens and ducks for customers at its store on 8932 Garvey Ave., will benefit most immediately from the change.

If the council confirms its vote in a second reading next month, CAL Poultry will be allowed to expand its facilities. Owner Quan Phu says the expansion is necessary to reduce odors from the slaughterhouse, which have long bothered nearby residents.

Slaughterhouses have been prohibited in Rosemead since 2001. CAL Poultry opened a decade before that. It was allowed to stay, but it was prohibited from expanding.Read more.

Garvey School District Board of Education vice president Janet Chin is hoping to get $57,000 from the Rosemead City Council tonight, but she may walk away disappointed.

Chin is looking for funding for her organization, the M. Janet Chin Youth Foundation.

The city has about the requested amount left in its budget for community-based organizations, but the Rosemead Youth Association is also hoping for some support and city staff has recommended that the council reject Chin’s request for funds.

In addition to lacking the money, staff concluded that Chin’s organization would duplicate efforts already going on in the Parks and Recreation Department.

The funding would go to the Foundation’s Operation Civic Pride program that aims to increase civic engagement among young people. Chin says the program would complement city programs, not duplicate them. It would feature a volunteer database to provide young people opportunities to volunteer in the community, she said.

Reporter Rebecca Kimitch wrote this story for today’s paper about the Chinese American Live Poultry slaughterhouse in Rosemead. This place has been an issue for years…

Store owners say they offer the San Gabriel Valley’s immigrants a taste of the old country and keep them from manhandling live chickens in their backyards and garages.

But some neighbors say a slaughterhouse has no business operating in the city, which lately has been looking for a facelift. They also say this store in particular has been bad for the neighborhood because it violates laws, reeks of rotting chickens and flushes blood down drains.

“After all this time, this is not the kind of business that should be in Rosemead,” resident Jean Hall said at last week’s planning commission meeting.

Regardless, the city is opening the door for more such establishments in Rosemead.

Whether they will come depends on the pocketbooks of the newly arrived and the tastes of those already here.

The planning commission voted

5-0 last week to recommend the City Council change the municipal code to allow poultry slaughtering in the city. The council may vote on the issue at its December meeting.

Slaughterhouses have been prohibited in Rosemead since 2001. CAL Poultry opened a decade before that and was allowed to stay under the condition that it does not expand.

Two years ago complaints from neighbors began to pour in to the city. Chickens ran loose in the streets, blood was flushed down drains and broken eggs rotting in the sun created horrible odors, they said.

Last year, the city tried to force the business to move but ran into challenges since it is legally allowed to be there.

CAL Poultry owners now want to make improvements to the slaughterhouse, including raising the roof six feet to reduce odors and limit its impact on nearby homes and businesses.

They need the change in municipal code in order to do so and their expansion is the only reason the city is even considering the amendment. But in making the request, CAL Poultry could bring competition.